


seven across

by citylights10



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Newt is a teacher, enjoy, he lives with minho, minho and newt are dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-28 02:50:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20418674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citylights10/pseuds/citylights10
Summary: Newt is having trouble figuring out a crossword puzzle, and no one else can help. He figures asking his boyfriend will be useless. He is mistaken.(This was just a stupid idea I had which I thought was cute, enjoy)





	seven across

**Author's Note:**

> Yo guys hope you enjoy this stupid little thing I wrote including the characters Newt and Minho from The Maze Runner series. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

7 across. Newt stared at his newspaper, his thoughts struggling to locate an effective answer to the crossword puzzle. He wrote down a couple of words in pencil, before realising one of them was too short, and the other too long. He sighed; running his hand through his hair as he absentmindedly put the newspaper to one side. He was an author, someone particularly known for his use of breath-taking vocabulary, carefully constructed to make sentences that melted hearts and awed readers. 7 across. He’d done every other word, almost effortlessly – there was really no use in denying that he, usually, was a crossword expertise.

There was no point asking Minho, who Newt could hear making coffee in the kitchen as he prepared for his morning run. As much as he loved him, he sometimes doubted Minho’s intelligence – something that surprised him. Newt had always said he wanted his ideal boyfriend to be smart, someone he could have intellectual conversations with, and everything from politics, to the ever-changing face of music, to the true metaphorical message of The Great Gatsby. Instead, he found himself with Minho. Minho, who was witty and sarcastic, who was funny, who was interested in sports, sex and a very specific but likeable selection of bands, a couple of who Newt had recently developed a taste in. Minho who hated reading, and didn’t care for debates about politics. Newt had fallen for him none the less; there was clear chemistry between the two, from the moment they met. They bounced off each other with discussion of life stories, finding comfort in the fact that they both came from families with strict parents, and had struggled with their sexuality in younger years. Minho explained his eventual coming out, and how his parents responded well, whilst Newt wasn’t so lucky, and had only his sister to trust and confide in. Newt would never forget the moment he realised that maybe Minho was everything he’d ever wanted, and the intellectual conversations of poetry and philosophy was really something he could live without. 

Newt smiled as he watched Minho put his shoes on, double knotting his laces as always (‘If I don’t double knot, they’ll untie, and I’ll fall over, and die. Is that really what you want for me, Newt?’) Before Minho left, he looked into the lounge. ‘I’m off. I’ll see you tonight?’ Newt nodded, waving as Minho grinned at him and shut the door. Newt sighed, deciding he should probably leave for work, considering he had about five minutes to get dressed, clean his teeth, eat, and arrive at the school. See, Newt was a high school teacher, although many confused him for a student, considering his young looks and lanky, teenage like build. He could most likely leave his job, considering his books really were selling well, and he was sure his fan base was starting to grow- but, in all truth, he loved teaching too much to leave. He got to teach the senior year English class, kids who actually cared about novels and authors and Shakespeare. They seemed to like him too, since he received the highest teacher rating of the year, based on questionnaires students filled out. He smiled as he grabbed his newspaper and left the room, considering how enjoyable his life really was. 

Newt sat in the staff room, looking at the crossword on his newspaper with a pencil in his fingers, considering the puzzle once again. The other teachers were chatting around him, drinking coffee and discussing students, their own lives, and whatever else. Newt turned to Jack, another English teacher who Newt felt he could maybe call a friend. ‘Do you know the answer to this?’, he asked as he handed the newspaper over to Jack, and pointed at 7 across, with his pencil. Jack moved his glasses further up his nose, studying the clue and furrowing his eyebrows, giving an indication to Newt that he, too, had absolutely no idea.

‘To be honest, I don’t completely understand the clue itself, let alone know the word.’ He smiled, handing the newspaper back to Newt. ‘Me neither.’ Newt sighed, hating the unsatisfactory feeling of not being able to answer it – he didn’t know why he had the unrelenting need to know everything, but he did, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Later on, Newt sat at his desk, watching his English Lit class work in groups to complete a worksheet on Jurassic Park, the book they were studying this term. As he tapped his fingers on his desk, he eyed the crossword, sitting beside him, taunting him. He looked back to the class, and figured it could at least be worth a try. ‘Guys, can I have your attention for a second, please?’ The teenagers immediately dropped their discussions, and turned their seats to face Newt. He once again felt a surge of gratefulness towards his students, knowing how lucky he was for them to completely respect him, considering the fact that they could very easily pick on him and he wouldn’t fight back. He thought maybe his age had something to do with it, that being only twenty four allowed the students to feel as though they could see him as a friend, rather than an authority figure. 

Newt suddenly realised how ridiculous it was, getting his class to answer a stupid, Daily Mail puzzle. But still, it might help engage in an interesting discussion. ‘Can anyone give me a three letter word to the clue, ‘they come in last?’ The class stared back at him, a few giggling at the randomness of the question. Harry, a smart, popular boy with striking ginger hair, put his hand up; Newt nodded in his direction, giving permission for him to speak. 

‘What’s this for, Sir?’ He asked, rocking back on his chair, looking genuinely interested as opposed to making fun of Newt. The latter smiled, picking up the newspaper and showing the puzzle to the class. ‘It’s had me stumped all day, and I thought there was no harm in asking you guys.’ The teenagers laughed, but it was with Newt, not at him, he liked to believe. He grinned, putting the newspaper back down. ‘So, any ideas, guys?’ He continued, thinking that maybe one of the kids understood the clue in a way he couldn’t. The class shook their heads, Harry included. 

‘Have you asked Minho, sir?’ Newt looked up to see the question being asked by Lisa, a previously shy girl who had found her voice through this class, being warmly welcomed by similar minded people who were quick to befriend her after discovering she was new to the school. She still was a little late to conversations, often hiding behind a brunette fringe until she felt comfortable enough to speak. Newt laughed at what she said; somehow, everyone in his class knew he was dating Minho. He couldn’t remember exactly how, but he was pretty sure they’d asked him about his personal life in an effort to get out of a particularly boring discussion of a novel that he couldn’t recall. After bringing up the fact that his partner was a he, not a she, to which the class didn’t blink an eye, something Newt really appreciated, since he was used to an over-reaction from some people in an effort to appear totally fine with it, he told them about Minho. They took an instant liking to him, despite never having met him, and would often ask Newt how things were going with him. He would never forget the first time he had an argument with Minho, and came into school with his shirt on inside out, bags under his eyes and a heavy heart. The class were quick to comfort him, suggesting ways of making it up to Minho, ranging from a small act of getting him flowers, to a proposal. When Newt arrived at Minho’s house that night with a bouquet of roses in his hand, and a grin on his face, he knew who he had to thank. 

Newt remembered the question at hand. ‘Um, no, I haven’t. Look, I love him, but if I don’t know, there’s no way he’ll know!’ The class giggled, some raising eyebrows at Newts confidence in his intelligence. ‘I sound like a smart-ass, I know, but trust me, guys, there’s no point asking him.’ After this, he instructed the class to go back to their work, deciding he might as well throw the crossword away. 

Newt walked through the front door, shutting it behind him as he shrugged off his coat and hung it up on the peg. ‘Hey!’ He heard Minho call, and turned into the kitchen to find his boyfriend cooking.   
The blond grinned goofily, hugging Minho from behind as he swayed to the song on the radio. ‘What are you cooking?’ He asked, letting go of Minho and leaning against the counter. Minho pointed to the pasta boiling in the saucepan with his spoon, quirking an eyebrow. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Newt sighed, giving Minho his classic ‘don’t sass me’ look. He realised he was still holding his newspaper, and chucked it onto the table. 

As Minho brought over the plates of pasta to the table, he nodded towards the newspaper. ‘You’ve missed one,’ he stated in that stupid ‘I’m pointing this out even though you already know it just to annoy you’ tone that Newt both loved and hated. ‘I know.’ He replied, grabbing a fork and stabbing a pasta twirl, studying it with squinted eyes to check it was cooked – Minho was lovely to cook for him, but it wasn’t Newts fault that he didn’t completely trust him. 

‘It’s XYZ’. Newt looked up to see Minho absentmindedly chewing whilst filling out the crossword blank. ‘You what?’ Newt laughed, thinking Minho must’ve misread the puzzle. ‘XYZ? What is that?’

Minho handed the newspaper to Newt. ‘Comes in last – XYZ are the last letters of the alphabet. The answers aren’t always just words.’ Newt stared at Minho, who continued to eat as though he hadn’t just changed Newt’s day entirely. ‘What?’ Minho continued, squirming under the gaze of Newt. ‘Did you not know that?’

Newt had two options. He could either praise Minho for his sudden, unexpected knowledge of how to read crossword clues, and admit he’d been struggling to answer it all day. Or he could not tell him, save his own pride, and continue to be the smart one in the relationship. ‘Um…I just hadn’t really looked at that one yet.’ Minho cocked his head to the side – he had a weird, uneasy way of knowing when Newt was lying. He smiled, and shrugged. ‘Okay.’

Newt continued to watch him, still in disbelief that Minho had answered it so easily. There was something about the way he hadn’t even tried, the way he didn’t even care, that made him seem a bit more sexy than usual to Newt. It was no question that Minho was hot, after all, but this had no doubt increased Newt’s attraction to Minho by a large amount. He smiled to himself, thinking that maybe Minho wasn’t the ideal man he’d dreamt off, but he was even better.


End file.
